IPSA Cleansing Oil review

IPSA Cleansing Oil comes in a pump bottle dispenser, 196ml and retails for 3,000 Yen (which is around 32USD, around a mid-range pricing point in terms of Japanese cosmetic brands). It looks like this:



It's housed in a clear orange bottle I believe, I cannot tell if the product is clear or light orange, seems just clear to me.

The orange bottle version must be an older version of Ipsa's cleansing oils- as I can only see from the official website the 'Cleansing Oil EX', which looks like this instead:



I decided to try the IPSA cleansing oil since I had rather good experience with the cleansing oil from a pricier line in IPSA, which looks like this:


The "On the Peak Cleansing Oil" above is in an even smaller size, 150ml and retails for 4750Yen. This was about 2 years ago when I used the On The Peak cleansing oil but did remember it to be a rather nice and comfortable makeup remover.

Anyhow, back to the Cleansing Oil. I've really struggled trying to use this up, I end up using this on extremely light makeup days only (e.g. where I wear just a foundation primer/ base plus a very light powder foundation or pressed powder). Even after almost a whole year, this is all I managed to use up:

The instructions says to use 3 pumps on dry hand, massage on dry face, until makeup dissolves, then add a tiny bit of water, massage further until the cleansing oil emulsifies , then rinse with luke warm water, then you must also follow with a normal face wash again.

I find it very curious as most cleansing oil always boasts that they do not require another cleanser or face wash to follow up. However given I always double cleanse, it doesn't concern me.

I only realised (all too late) that it's best to try to apply your usual makeup to your arm and see how a cleanser oil performs, instead of just relying on it completely. It's really common for a lot of people to use cleansing oil to try to remove ALL makeup (including stubborn mascara and eyeliners). Which really means you could end up going to bed with traces of makeup if your cleansing oil underperforms- this can't be good for your skin.

I used whatever was in my current makeup bag that I knew must be a bit harder to remove. Mascara in the middle (by Helena Rubinstein, which is really waterproof, yet not quite oil proof so still smudges on me). On the side are just Majolica majorca's latest brown eyeliner pencil and De javu brown eyeliner.

I applied some cleansing oil over it- you can see it's runny , not as runny as water, but it's just a tad runnier than Fancl's MCO cleansing oil.

Massaged a fair bit- you can see the eyeliner goes quickly but not the mascara.

I added a bit of water, emulsified a bit, but still, mascara remaining:

Pat dry below:

As you can see, still some leftover mascara. It did come off easily once I rubbed it with my fingers, maybe the cleansing oil did loosen it. However this really meant this cleansing oil is probably not strong enough to remove stubborn makeup. 

While it is a decent price, lasts a while (really only need two pumps for the full face and neck and it's still plenty), however the inherent lack of cleansing property means I will not be repurchasing. 

I always use a separate eye makeup remover now (a habit I wish I picked up earlier- I used to always just cleansing oil everything off, until once I used a cotton bud after i already washed my face, dabbed some Lancome bifacil eye makeup remover, and found the cotton bud still came off with lots of traces of mascara and eyeliner- what a shock it was). I still expect using a separate cleansing oil would ensure absolutely all traces of makeup are removed properly (i.e. a final step after the eye makeup removers as well).

Rating of 3/5. There are tonnes of Japanese drugstore brands that produce superior cleansing oils which are even more comfortable to use and with a smaller pricetag (e.g. the Hada labo one I reviewed earlier that I'm still happily using).